Glad to hear you enjoyed the article! You can expect many more in-depth Modern pieces throughout the year. Let me know if there’s anything you want to hear more on.

Thanks! I agree that Cutthroat probably isn’t as much an upgrade as I might make it out to be. That said, Return Combo doesn’t kill a lot of enemy creatures and typically wins by going wide: that’s a situation where the extra power can be highly relevant. Also, Cutthroat doesn’t target opponents, which can be relevant in metagames where Leyline of Sanctity sees more play. Overall, you are right that Artist isn’t much worse/better than Cutthroat in many scenarios (indeed, Artist is better against sac-heavy decks like Affinity). The best way to think about Cutthroat is for redundancy, not for being an upgrade.